Big Sister Ukraine
by Sjeherazade
Summary: Ukraines parents are trapped in a snow storm and the 9-years-old Ukraine who is still a child, who hasn't yet learned to cook or clean or anything... is forced to take care of her younger siblings and make sure they all survive.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I don't own Hetalia - plus I don't speak english as my native language but as always I'll do my best. **

Ages: Ukraine 9, Russia 4, Belarus 2

**From Ukraine diary**

**8 November**

_Mum and Dad has gone to visit relatives and I have been trusted to take care of my siblings until they comes home, which they said will be in the evening. There have left some foods that we can heat up over the fire..._

When the evening came and her parents hadn't come home yet, Ukraine started to get worried. Russia and Belarus sat in front of the fireplace, were a fire was burning and played games while Ukraine wrote in her diary. She could feel the lump in her belly growing by every hour. Eventually, she saw that they was almost out of wood so she desided to go out to get some more sticks. Outside it was a full moon so even though the sun had gone down, she should be able to get away to the woodpile and get some wood, she just wanted to have enough wood to pass the night.

When she opened the door, she saw a small layer of snow on the ground, that had not been there earlier in the day. Her heart rate went up, she looked towards the mountains just to see a snow storm coming her way. Now she understood very well why her parents did not come home, they couldn't for the storm.

**9 November**

Ukraine didn't sleep very well that night. She had quickly gathered all the wood she could carry from the woodpile plus food about three weeks from the food supply. She had not stoped before the snow storm was over her and then she had run into the house and put a loose stock in front of the door so they wouldn't freeze to death if the door blew up while they were sleeping.

When the log was finally in place Ukraine took a few steps from the door, it was still warm inside the house but she knew she had to feed the fire more if she wanted it to be warm all night. Ukraine was already morw tired than she had ever been. She also discovered that she had tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, she could not bear the thought of her siblings seeing her cry right now.

Then she remembered them, she hadn't given a single thought to Russia and Belarus, if they had gone out without her noticing it, and if they were still out, then she would never be able to find them in time. They would freeze to death, and if she went out to look for them she would freeze to death as well. And even if one of them were still inside the house, that one would eventually starve to death, unless he or she went out to look for the others and froze to death too. Those thoughts remainded Ukraine about another problem, she hadn't learned to cook yet.

Eventually Ukraine decided to calm down and think through the situation. Perhaps it wasn't as hopeless as it seemed at the moment. So the first thing she did was to go into the room where she had seen her brother and sister last time.

It really wasn't as horrible as Ukraine believed it to be. On the contrary, both Russia and Belarus was still where she had last seen them, in front of the fireplace. And not only that, both of them had fallen asleep, in other words, she didn't have to tell them that mum and dad were stuck in a storm yet.

The next morning Ukraine remained in bed, thinking everything through. She could still hear the storm outside, and soon her siblings would wake up and discover that they were alone at home. This stressed Ukraine very much. Bela, she might be able to reassure but Russia was old enough to understand at least that something was wrong.

Russia and Belarus were both still asleep. Ukraine had carried them away one by one to the bed the two of them shared and embedded them in both their own blankets and an extra large blanket that covered them both, first after that she herself had gone to bed.

But now as she didn't sleep anymore. It was time to take care of the next problem. She had no idea how to cook, all she could do when it came to cooking was to heat up something that mum had cooked, but there was no such thing left and she didn't know how long the storm would keep her parents away.

There was only one thing to do, she needed to learn to cook. The problem was that there were no adults there to ask. But how hard could it be? She had seen the mother cook soup many times.

Ukraine went into the kitchen to get a cauldron of water, she could cook the soup over the fire, but the cauldron was heavier than she had expected. There was no way she would be able to carry it when it was full of water. She had to put the kettle in place first and then fetch the water. She turned around to do so... Then Russia too came into the kitchen.

"Is not Mum and Dad at home yet?" Ukraine felt a smile spread across her face and she put down the cauldron on the floor.

"No, they're not home yet" she replied and walked over to her little brother, lifting him up in her arms to give him a really warm hug. It was not hard to tell him this, it was strange enough, and not only that, it felt much better afterwards. "Russia, can you help me to carry the water? We'll try to make breakfast!"

When the cauldron was full of water Belarus was awake too and the little one could really be in the way. Ukraine couldn't think of anything for her to do, she was simply too small to help. But she managed to solve that problem. It was, after all, Christmas very soon so she simply asked her younger siblings to make something to hang up in their Christmas tree. When they were busy with that, Ukraine went back into the kitchen to look for something to put in the soup, which she hoped would be just as easy to make as it was to take care of younger siblings.

At first it seemed indeed as if it was going to be easy. Ukraine had found some apples that she cut into small pieces and put in the water when it had started to boil. But after looking into the cauldron a while she remembered that their father always used to put in a little bit of cheese when he cooked soup. Ukraine ran back into the kitchen to fetch some cheese and when she was in the food supply she saw something else as well, a fish. A raw, unprocessed fish. Fish is beneficial, that was something that their mother had nagged about many times so Ukraine simply took the fish with her too. When her mother came home, she wouldn't find her children malnourished and full of deficiency diseases anyway.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile, Russia and Belarus had been tired of making christmas things, and even worse they began to become hungry, and had began to wish that Ukraine would get the soup ready some time. That was when Russia came up with the perfect idea. They could help their sister with the soup, then it should of course be finished faster. After he told that idea to Bela the two of them began to look around for things to put in the soup.

It hadn't passed many seconds before Belarus caught sight of something that she thought was very delicious but that the adults around her, for some reason had forbidden her to eat. Cat shit. And Russia had caught sight of some hay in his bed. The cows eat the hay after all, he thought, and he immediately made the conclusion that the hay was certainly good for people too. Because of this Russia, never saw what Belarus put into the soup and Ukraine didn't see Russia put a handful of hay in it either, since they both were in another room looking for more ingredients, and no one saw when Ukraine threw in a whole, raw; fish in the soup without cleaning it because she simply didn't know how to do.

When Ukraine left the room again, Russia came back, he hadn't found anything in the other room, but he did now, he found the cheese that Ukraine had tried to cut into smaller pieces without success. Russia didn't think this was necessary at all, he happened to know that cheese melted when it got warm and he thought that if one simply put the cheese into the soup as it was, the problem would be solved, and you didn't have to cut it.

The evening Ukraine didn't feel very fantasticly confident anymore, the cooking had been proved more difficult than she could ever imagine, and the art of cooking at the same time as one watched kids, that was something she honestly did not know how she would ever learn, moreover, she had still not been able to clean the cauldron.


	2. Chapter 2

**16 November**

From Ukraine diary

_Mum and Dad have been gone for a week now, I've started thinking about explaining to the others that it is because of the storm. We can still hear the wind outside all the time. I go out to feed the animals as often as I dare but the wind is so strong that several trees have been broken, Russia and Bela can not stand up outdoors because the wind is too strong and they are too small. Yesterday it was too strong for me too and I had to crawl back to the house after giving the cow food, I was afraid that I would be buried in the snow._

_Bela can still not help but eat cat poo, yesterday I threatened to let the cat sleep outside but then both Bela and Russia began to cry. I do not know what to do._

_One good thing however is that we have solved the cooking issue, we grill apples for the most meals. There is one thing that daddy showed us how to do - and this morning I actually managed to make something that at least seem like gruel._

**25 November**

From Ukraine diary

_Russia is sick, yet a problem in other words. Not just the storm outside, and the cow and the goats and chickens, now we can not even sleep at night, he coughs all the time and I do not know what to do about it. I try to remember if grandma has said something that I can use but until I come up with something like that, I continue to try to keep him warm, I've fetched all the blankets we have from the store because I guess we'll be sick all of us eventually ._

_I'm getting scared that mum and dad will not be home for Christmas. But I do not tell the others._

Ukraine stopped writing and began to cry. She wished that this nightmare would end and they would come back to reality. At the same time, she knew that nothing could be more real than this, and that scared her. But there was one thing that scared her more, literally what would happen if Russia and Bela would understand that she was scared. Then they would get scared too and then anything could happen. In the worst case, they would all three panic, run out into the storm, be buried under the snow, and then their parents would find what was left of them next summer. Ukraine desperately tried to keep away all her tears, the problem was just that they were so many, and she didn't like the thought that the two others at any time could come in and see them.

When Ukraine was sitting there, trying to stop crying, some raged from the roof. It sounded like if the house was about to fall in, both Ukraine, Russia and Belarus had heard this sound many times before but then they had not been alone in the house. And it actually sounded so nasty that Ukraine screamed and threw herself down on the floor.

In a corner, she saw a pillow that she grabbed and hid her face in before she screamed as loud as she could.

"MUMMY! DADDY!"

A minute later, Ukraine felt two arms around the body, it was first then she discovered that she was trembling. She lifted her head from the pillow and saw that it was Russia who had stepped out of bed.

Actually Ukraine wanted to tell him to go back to bed, he shouldn't be up when he had a cold, but the words just wouldn't come out from her mouth. Instead, she put the pillow aside on the floor and hugged her little brother. Then she lifted him up and went back to bed where she laid him down again. She had an idea, she would try to boil some milk for him, her mother used to give her that when she was ill.

"I'll just go and get one thing Russia, don't leave the bed until I get back!" She said, and went off to her food supply area in the next room. She found the milk at once, she had organized the storage perfectly.

A few hours later Ukraine sat wrapped in a big blanket in front of the fire, with Russia in her arms to keep him warm. Both of them had fallen asleep and slept for once quiet and safe in the heat. For Ukraine that had this meant two hours resumed rest that she did very well need and for Russia every hour of sleep without coughing meant everything. Unfortunately, both of them would very soon wake up very quickly and very brutal.


	3. Chapter 3

After a while Belarus began to feel hungry, but Ukraine was asleep and Belarus had learned through an "experiment" she carried on their father that people who slept did not like to be awakened. In other words, the best thing she could do to was to make something to eat herself. So she sought out a piece of bread that had beeb left over after dinner and she stuck it on a stick to roast it on the fire. Unfortunately, the stick was a little too short so Belarus had to climb into the open stove to reach the fire. Now she reached the fire, actually she reached the fire better than she had intended to. Suddenly the sleeve of her dress were on fire.

Bela cried out in fear and pain. Both of her older siblings woke up with a jerk and got to their feet in a second. Ukraine ran over to her little sister with tears in her eyes and just beated her little arm until the fire went out. Then she lifted her up and ran toward a barrel of cold water in which she forced down the arm and stood there for a while, until she too began to feel cold.

After Bela had walked away Ukraine fell to the floor next to the water barrel with her hands covering her eyes. She sat like that for a minute, trembling and wishing that she would wake up soon. She closed her eyes and tried to convince herself that everything would be back to normal as soon as she opened them again.

The first thing she heard when she opened her eyes was Russia who had started coughing again. At that second she became aware of how cold it was to sit next to a barrel ful of water that was standing in a place that was special chosen to just keep the water cold, so she got up and went in to the others.

Inside, it was a total chaos. Bela cried like if the end of the world was expected and Russia coughed so that it was a miracle that he still had some lungs left, plus his fever seemed to have gone up.

Ukraine went in to comfort them, with only one single thought in her head. "Must cope"


	4. Chapter 4

**30 November**

From Ukraine's diary

_Last night we could hear wolves outside all night, it sounded like there were several. I could not sleep, the food is running out so I have to go out tomorrow and pick in more. Russia is still sick but he at least got some sleep tonight. The cat has been sleeping with us in the bed. We do not dare to let him out for a while._

_-o-o-o-_

Ukraine got up before the two others woke up. It was time to go out to the food supply so they wouldn't have to go out every day.

She had fetched a thick red jacket with fur on the inside so that it would be extra warm, and walked towards the door. She had barely arrived at the door until the cat was also there.

Ukraine sighed, she really wanted to sleep some more, but this constant turmoil simply didn't let her rest enough to sleep. She picked up the cat and went back with it to the bed, but once again, he had preceded her to the door.

Thus there was nothing else she could do, she decided that she needed help to keep the cat inside so she woke Belarus up, and asked her to keep the cat in a moment, and then she ran to the door, opened it and closed it before the cat could get loose from her little sister. Then she walked towards the exit door, placed her ear to it to hear how bad it blowed outside right now.

The wind was still hard, but it did not sound so dangerous that it wasn't worth trying.

When Ukraine came out, she understood why she'd rather stayed in bed, it was still pretty dark outside, but it was enough light for her to see the storage 20 metres away. She pulsed out there, dug away some snow to get in, filled a bag with anything whatever and went back out and started walking back.

Then she heard the wolf again. She gasped and felt that she began to tremble, but she still continued to walk, she knew she had to enter the house to survive. It was only a few metres left to the door. Then she saw something in the snow that made her scream, a wolf tracks, they had been in the yard. Ukraine looked towards the woods, mostly to satisfy herself that all was allright. But it certainly was not allright, there was eyes gleaming everywhere.

With a scream, she ran the last few metres to the door, threw the bag down and locked the door with the log again. She trembled violently and was still breathing very heavily, but at least she was safe. She carried the bag to the inner door. When she opened it she screamed again when she saw something run out, but she calmed down when she realized that it was just the cat.

The cat was anyway not as eager to go out anymore, he must have felt the scent of the wolves outside. He ran back inside and hid under the bed.

Ukraine went in, closed the door to keep the heat inside. Then she placed the bag in the storeage without looking at it. Before she went back to bed, she poked some more wood into the fire so that it wouldn't go out in some hours. She did sleep a really long time this morning, long enough to be sure that it was bright when she must go out again to fill the wood supply.

A little later that day, Ukraine got an idea that made her go up in the attic. She therefore got to the stairs and climbed up to get them up on the so-called upstairs, were they never was. In her hand she had a lantern with a candle to see in the dark. Despite this, she stumbled on something that was right in front of her feet, the light fell on the floor and went out.

Ukraine felt around with her hands in the dark. Finding the lantern was not hard because it was the only thing in there that was hot. But while she did something fell down from a shelf and landed on her head. It hurt, more dangerous than that it wasn't, whatever it was, it was not heavy enough for her to pass out just because it had landed on her head.

She looked into her pocket for a match and lit the lamp again. Then she saw that it was a notebook that fallen down on her and now it lay open on the floor. For some reason that Ukraine didn't even understand herself, she took up the book and put it inside her pocket, then she went to retrieve what she really was looking for up here. A bowl, she thought that they all three would feel better i they had a bath so she would make sure they all did before the evening. She carried down the bowl and then she started to pick up some snow from outside that she melted in the cauldron until the tub was full.

Ukraine began with Russia, he was still sick and needed to rest as much as possible but they needed to bath all of them, he too. And Ukraine didn't want to have to explain to mum and dad why they were so dirty then when they got home. In addition, her mother had said repeatedly that one must be clean in order not to get sick.

Russia then got to bath first, even if it was Ukraine who took care of most of it, Russia's body was so tired that he almost slept the whole time. But one thing was at least good about it, when Ukraine dried him and put on a new, clean nightshirt and embedded him again, he actually seemed to feel much better than before. Ukraine sat quietly behind her little sister and washed her hair. For the first time in a long while Ukraine actually felt quite peaceful.

That is, until that Belarus sneezed. Ukraine gasped and dropped her sister's hair. So it was time for the next person to get sick. Ukraine had been waiting for this but tried to stick to hope that herself and Bela would avoid what Russia had got.


	5. Chapter 5

**31 November**

Ukraine couldn't sleep that night, so she hadn't even gone to bed. Instead she was sitting alone looking at the fire. She hadn't picked away the things after the bath after that all three of them had bathed in it so it still stood there in the middle of the room. Ukraine thought that she would take care of it the next day. Right now she just wanted to sit there next to the fire and keep warm and comfortable, she couldn't sleep after all.

It was then that she came to think about the notebook she had found in the attic. She went up to get her dress that she had left in a corner and the notebook out, if she couldn't sleep, she could at least see what it was.

It turned out that it was a diary that her mother had written when she was little. Ukraine sat down by the fire again and began to read. It was fun to read it, there was a lot of things that she hadn't had a clue about in it, about her own mother. She had got six brothers and sisters, that is, two more siblings than Ukraine knew about, there were two sisters that her mother had never mentioned and Ukraine were very curious about why, especially given that she seemed to have loved those two at least when they were small.

Ukraine flipped forward a few pages, from a page that was dated to the 2nd of July a year for a very long time ago. Right now Ukraine wanted to know what her mother did in the winter, she wanted to read about someone who was happy during the winter months and not having to think about the fact that herself and her siblings were trapped in a huge snowstorm that made their parents unable to get through to them, and then that pack of wolves that made them to scared to go out, even when the storm was not that fierce.

It was obvious that their grandparents had been quite young parents, none of them had turned 20 when they had their first two children. Then Ukraine came to an episode that almost made her sink. The family had been surprised by a snowstorm that made them stuck in the house for Christmas. Her mother had described everything in detail, including her two sisters disease. In the end Ukraine was actually afraid to turn the pages of the book. She had read far enough to realize that it was the same disease that Russia was suffering from and Bela too now, but it was now many years since her mother's diary had been written, and yet her sisters had been in the same situation that her own brother and sister was right now.

It turned out that the first sister had died on Christmas Eve, and the other one two days later. Ukraine got paralyzed and stared on the sides, she felt sick and tears ran continuously. She couldn't even imagine what would come next. Just to have something to do she flipped a page, to avoid seeing it. Mum's grandmother had come to visit, Mum had listened to their conversation about the two sisters and ...

Ukraine began to read the book with greater interest, her mother's grandmother had described what they could have done to save them, and her mom had written everything down in the diary with the same detailed Writing as everything else, the entire conversation between Ukraines grandmother and her mothers grandmother. These pages were basically a prescription for the medication Russia and Bela needed. Ukraine ran to fetch her own diary and wrote down all the ingredients, wrote a real recipe. Then she looked up the ingredients she had inside.

It turned out that she must out to the storage to fetch two more ingredients. Without thinking about either the storm or the wolves which she could hear out there Ukraine got her clothes on and went outside, her fear of the wolves had to wait.

The night Ukraine didn't Went to bed, she was fully occupied by boiling the medicine while she read carefully in her mother's diary with one eye and looked at the colour of the liquid with her other eye. Her mother's description had been so detailed that it was easy to see if something went wrong and then she would quickly correct it. Ukraine knew exactly when the medicine was finished. Then she took down the pot from the fire and fetched three glasses, according to her great-grandmother everyone that lived in the same house should drink the medicine as a preventive measure, otherwise the disease would soon find its next victim anyway.

Ukraine was now very pleased with herself, and while the medicine waned, she continued to read her mother's diary in search of more useful pages. Every time she found something she made notes about it in her own.


	6. Chapter 6

**6 December**

From Ukraine's diary

_First night without any coughing, mum's and grandmother's medicine was dynamite but we have had terrible nightmares after drinking it, for a while I was a little worried that Russia and Bela would refuse to drink it, but I don't think they have concluded that it was the medicine that made the nightmares. At least it feels good that we will not die of a cold._

Ukraine closed the book and went over to the stove to cook. She had gotten pretty good at it after finding some clues in mother's diary. As an additional result, Russia had become stronger again, he hadn't eaten as much as he used to but he had been very weak, even a few days after the cold was gone he seemed a bit ill. Bela had never got time to become that sick but even she had seemed more alert then before they had started to eat properly again - and Ukraine had a feeling that she too had been affected for the better. Everything felt a lot better anyway. The storm didn't seem as intimidating anymore even though it hadn't waned in strength at all.

Ukraine also had made up a few new routines for herself. She started every morning with scrubbing the entire house, it was something she thought would prevent Bela from eating the cat's shit, if she couldn't find any, she couldn't eat any.

She still didn't dare to let the cat outside. The wolves were still there, she had seen both tracks of them and eyes that gleamed in the woods several times after the first time, moreover, they could hear them almost every night.

When Ukraine was peeling apples for dinner that day, she suddenly saw how Belarus scratched her hair as she sat by the fire with the cat in her arms.

Ukraine sighed and put the apple and knife down on the table. Then she went over to her little sister and went throug her hair with her fingers, moved a few curls. Bela's head was completely covered with lice, in other words, it was time to bath again and Bela must be combed. Fortunately, Ukraine had learned to deal with problems by now. She went into the next room and picked up the small wooden box in which her mother had her medical stuff. It was located quite high up so Ukraine would have to climb up on a chair to reach it.

Just when Ukraine had got hold of the box and would be stepping down from the chair, she heard a scream from the kitchen that caused her to stop breathing one second, it was just luck that she had not fallen down from the chair. Instead, she now stepped down from it and ran into the kitchen to see what had happened.

Russia had apparently felt that he needed to help Ukraine to peel the apples and then of course he had to cut himself on the knife. It wasn't a deep wound, but it was still quite a lot of blood. Only a few weeks ago this scene had made Ukraine wanting to cry. Now it was just another thing she had to take care of, and something she had to prioritize, first wash Russia's wound and bandage it, then comb the lice of Belarus and then cook dinner. Could be worse.


	7. Chapter 7

**9 December**

From Ukraine's diary

_Today it is exactly a month ago, that we were left alone. The storm is still blowing but it seems to be milder than before. However, it is very much snow so it can be hard for mum and dad to come home. But I try to keep spirits up, both for myself and for Bela and Russia._

_Last night, when we had got the fire to burn, all three of us sat around the fireplace under a blanket telling stories. The wolves are back, we could hear them outside all night. I think that it's just me who worries about their presence anyway. Russia and Belarus did not seem to care at all. They fell asleep in front of the fireplace as if nothing had happened. I carried them to their bed and tucked them in. Yesterday I actually crawled down with them, actually there are room for us all in that bed so I thought, why not? And when Russia was ill, we slept there all three to keep him warm so I just thought it was natural. I do not like to be alone and listen to the wolves, especially not when there are so many wolves as it seemed yesterday._

_I feel that I have learned to live with this situation now, but today one thing happened that made me feel almost as powerless as the first few days. It was when Bela came to me and asked when mum and dad would come home. She really wanted to know if they would be home for Christmas. I could not think of anything to answer and I think it scared Bela pretty much. As for Russia, I do think that he understand, he says nothing, but he looked very worried when Bela asked that question._

_-o-o-o-_

Ukraine put down her pen and looked at her siblings. This day had been long and tedious, and it was far from over. It was still light outside, but they could not go out because of the storm. Belarus seemed most upset about it. She wanted something to do, but right now there was nothing to do. This morning they had washed the clothes, but they hung out to dry now, there was enough firewood, water and food, and it was several hours left until it was time to cook dinner. Russia just sat quietly in a corner with the cat in his lap, the cat had fallen asleep. Ukraine looked at him and thought it all through, Bela wanted something to do and the next thing to be done was to Cook dinner, but then the last time they had tried to make dinner together Russia had cut his finger up and Bela was even younger than him. Ukraine realized that her parents would never put a knife in her hands, even Russia was too little to cope with it obviously.

Ukraine sighed, she wanted to find a way to entertain her younger siblings but it was difficult. There must be something they could play, she thought and went up to a box with toys to get some inspiration. Ukraine looked down into the box.

A "Heaven and Hell game", that was out of question - they could just be two players in that game. A ball, not a good idea - if someone smashed a window, they would freeze to death. A doll, no thanks - Ukraine had enough to look after her own siblings ... One bottle, then they could play truth or dare... no, Ukraine could just imagine how fun it would be in this position .. .

_"Truth"_

_"What are you most afraid of in the world"_

_"The fact that mum and dad will not be home for Christmas, that we run out of food and we freeze to death"_

Ukraine sat down on the floor next to the box. The cat came up to her and rubbed its nose on her feet, it had, in other words awakened. Ukraine realized that it probably wanted to get out and hunt but the wolves was still out there so they simply couldn't. Eventually Ukraine looked up and saw that both Russia and Bela looked at her.

"Are you all right?" Bela said and went closer. Ukraine looked down at her knees, just fine, even Bela knew that something was wrong now, that was just what Ukraine needed.

Then Ukraine noticed that the storm was not as fierce as last she had listened to it. Maybe they could go out for a while, just a few minutes, if they dressed properly.


	8. Chapter 8

**12 December**

A snowman stood in front of the house. The storm had become milder and the three siblings had been out more than they had before. Today it was even so calm outside that they had decided to venture out in the woods. Not far indeed, they would just look if their grandmother had made it through the storm, then they would go back home so that they were home before dark.

Ukraine carried Bela on her back, strapped with a cloth just like her mother used to do when she was working and didn't dare to leave her smallest child home alone. Russia was big enough to cope go all the way by himself, and he did, and not only that, he seemed to have a really good time. Both he and Ukraine thought that it was nice to be out of the house and not be trapped between four walls all the time.

They arrived at his grandmother's house and found that there were footprints everywhere, their grandmother's footsteps. Which meant that she was still alive at least, and that was a great comfort in the midst of all their misery. Although they didn't get to see her on this particular day, it was nice to know that they at least were not alone in the world.

Unfortunately, they had to go home without seeing their grandmother, she wasn't home, and if they waited too long, it would be dark before they got home, and then the wolves would be all over them in no time.

It had actually started to get dark when they came home, and they heard the first wolf howl before they could see the house.

Ukraine gasped and looked if she still had Bela safe on her back, then she took Russia's hand and almost ran the rest of the way. Blaming herself all the time that she ran. The days were so short now that she should have known better than to go out in the woods like this, especially with Russia and Belarus.

It was a great relief for Ukraine when she shut the door at home and placed the security log over it. She unleashed Bela, took her coat off and hung up to dry. Russia tried to do the same thing himself but he was too short.

When everyone's clothes hung out to dry, they went inside. They had no fire burning because they have been out, so it had been pretty cold now, and that was now the first task. They needed to keep warm. Then it was time to cook dinner. Everything went as routine nowadays. Someone just had to do it.

**13 December**

It was cold in the room when Ukraine woke up, very cool. Actually it was so cold that Ukraine began to suspect that something was very wrong and she opened her eyes to see what it was.

Russia had crawled very close to her and he was shaking with cold. Belarus ... was nowhere.

Ukraine almost flew out of bed and up to the front door, it was open and the wind was blowing straight in. That was too much for Ukraine, she ran out without thinking about some idiotic things like getting dressed in something a little warmer than a nightgown. She shouted out Bela's name, without getting any response.

Fortunately it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Bela was beside the snowman. She was not conscious, but she had been possible to find. Ukraine tore her up from the snowdrift and ran back inside and closed the door behind her.

When it was done a lot of thoughts flew around in her head. Was Bela still alive? Was Russia still inside or had he also run out? And how could she be so stupid that she hadn't locked him in before she ran out.

Now it was time to ensure that the damage caused by this incident was not as bad as they could be anyway. Ukraine lifted Bela up, and to her relief that she was breathing. Then she ran to Russia which thankfully hadn't even left the bed.

"Russia, get up, we've got problems!" Ukraine shouted, surprised at how easy it was to ask her much younger brother about something so important. She put down Bela in front of the fireplace, pulled out the biggest blanket they had and spread it over both Russia and Bela. They simply had to share their body heat until Ukraine could come up with something better. Then Ukraine put even more wood on the fire before she crawled under the blanket to the other two, then she hugged both of her younger siblings trying to keep them warm. A few hours later Bela seemed to feel much better and eventually she woke up.

By that time, Ukraine felt very tired, but she knew that it was time for the next step in her new daily routin - boil water, it was time for all three of them to take a bath anyway.

Later that night, when Russia and Bela had fallen asleep Ukraine was still up, afraid of the thought that one of her siblings would get the idea to do something stupid and get killed.


	9. Chapter 9

**19 December**

Ukraine woke up with a bad headache. And not only that, she froze a lot. For a while, she was afraid that Bela or Russia had slipped out again, but it turned out that they both were okay this time, they had found some cones on the floor next to the fire, which they now sat playing with nicely.

When Ukraine had seen that her younger siblings was allright, she got aware of the reason that she was cold, she was soaking wet. Apparently, she had begun to wash clothes late last night and when she did, she had fallen asleep.

Now she only grieved at the half-made work. She was so tired of all this responsibility, and the fact that she could never get to sleep because she was afraid that Bela or Russia would slipp out, or become injure themselves or become ill. She couldn't even cry anymore, everything was so hopeless anyway. A few days left until Christmas, and they were still virtually isolated in their Little house. They hadn't tried to visit grandma more after the first time.

Ukraine stood up and pulled off her wet dress and hung it to dry, then she crawled into her dry nightgown and sat next to the fire, putting in some new sticks and then she simply closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth. Russia and Bela had to tell her when they were hungry, she thought.

But that thought didn't live long, she had been fighting for that they would not starve for so long and she thought that she had to continue. So far no one had found their parents dead in a snowdrift, there was still some hope left.

Then Ukraine received another one of her bright ideas. She called for Russia and Bela and told them to get dressed. They would go out and get a Christmas tree, there was no reason not to pretend that everything was at least as normal as it could be.

-o-o-o-o-

The day went like any other day and as soon dinner was eaten, Ukraine took care of the dishes.

Then he heard a strange sound outside, something metallic. Ukraine stopped and looked around, Russia seemed to have heard it too, then it was in other words, not an imagination.

Ukraine told Russia to remain in the bigger room and hold Belarus's hand, she didn't want Bela to follow and see what she thought was going on out there, if it could be avoided. She went out to the little hall where the front door was alone, just in time to see an ax chop through it. In panic, she ran back to her younger siblings, grabbed Russia and pulled him into the next room, in the belief that Russia still held Bela's hand.

It was when Ukraine was going to close the door that she saw that Bela was still in there.

"BELA!" Both Ukraine and Russia ran back into the room. Meanwhile, the exit door suddenly was cut by an ax and the entire house was full of Vikings. Bela who was sitting closest to the door when they came in did not have a chance. In less than a second an ax had cut her in two, and before Ukraine had time to stop Russia he had run over to Bela and ended up in the same way.

-o-o-o-o-

Ukraine had never screamed so loud as when she woke up after that dream. Tears ran, her whole body was skaking and then ... then she ran out of bed and over to the corner at the other end of the room and there she puked like a fountain, hyperventilated and then she threw up even more.

Obviously both Russia and Bela had woken up by this, all three slept all in the same bed now after all, and who would not be awakened by someone suddenly screaming right next to where they slept? Now they both tried to figure out what they would do. Even though they were very small they knew that their big sister was not feeling very well right now, one simply didn't spew like Ukraine if one felt well.

Still not knowing what they would get to do the two younger siblings walked out of bed and over to Ukraine. None of them went all the way, they stopped in about half way in case Ukraine didn't want them to go further. Their older sister had been so stressed and high-strung lately, they had both noticed that, but so far it had not gone so far that she woke up at night with a scream and had to vomit.

Ukraine was still shaking and her face was full of tears when she got up from the corner, now she must make sure that what she had done disappeared from the house, it smelled. But right now she couldn't, even though the bucket was standing just a few feet away. Instead, she threw a dirty sheet over everything to hide it until the morning, but she regretted it immediately when she realized that the smell might find its way into the floorboards. She wiped it all up with the sheet and then put it in the bucket and put it in the room outside, thinging she could take care of it tomorrow.

It was when Ukraine did this and closed the door that she saw Russia and Bela standing two feet away from her with concern in his eyes. Ukraine didn't see them. The images from the dream was still on her retina. To avoid seeing them Ukraine got down on her knees and embraced them both. She was simply so happy that they were still there.

After a few minutes Ukraine felt a little more at ease, and she lifted both her siblings at the same time, something she had never done before. Then she went back to bed and they crawled back in it all three of them.


	10. Chapter 10

**23 December**

The storm had now grassed. Mum and dad been gone for one and a half month, it had been too risky to travel through the country in that weather. Therefore, they had at first hoped that their young children would make it a few days on their own. But it had not been only a few days. A week had passed, then another. When they finally went to go home, the two didn't really dared to hope that any of their three children were still alive, but they still had risked the journey, they wanted to know for sure, after all they were nations and the children were countries as well, that is, they weren't normal children which meant one could expect anything.

Early on December 23, they had come to the grandmother's house and knocked on her door. She was home and had let them come in.

She was an old woman who couldn't be bothered to go that far every day so she hadn't been able to go down to her son's house to see if the kids lived or not so she simply couldn't go there while the storm was as bad as it had been, even if the first few weeks she had been crying over this fact every evening. She had been thinking about the children every night before she went to sleep and then one day, a few weeks ago, when she unfortunately had been out to chop wood, she had come home and found small traces in the snow.

Since that day, Grandma had been quite sure that at least Ukraine and Russia was alive and it was with a great relief that she told this to her son and his wife when they came to her this day, just before she would go to bed. Almost as great relief it was for them to hear it. From being more or less convinced that none of the children had survived the storm, there was now a person that could tell them that she had at least seen the footprints of two of them.

The great sadness for the grandmother had been that she had not been at home just when they walked past, if she had been there, she had easily let them in and let them stay with her until she was sure they had someone who looked after them, and after that day when she had found their footprints, she had been waiting every single day that they would get there again. But they hadn't turned up more, and she herself could no longer make her way down to their home because the road was too difficult on her old bones.

The parents thanked Grandma for the information and went out again, it was a starry night. It was still a few hours left until the sun would go up, but they had lanterns to light up the darkness with and torches to scare off the wolves with. And they both thought that they had been away long enough from their family. Besides, they had the sleigh and the horse so even grandma could come.

The old woman got dressed warmly and sat down on the sled, she used to spend Christmas alone but this time she did, after all, not know for sure that her grandchildren was still alive or not, it felt better to see them with her own eyes, she thought.

It was not a fun trip, they knew that the children had been out at the grandmother's house and looked but there was no guarantee that they had come home from the trip.

But on the farm there were a lot of signs that at least some had survived. The rumor out of the chimney, the front yard was full of potholes that suggested that there were footprints there before they had snowed over. The snowman was also still there.

When the adults went to the storehouse they could see that at least the animals lived, they could also see that someone had been there to feed them. All were still alive after one and a half month.

The mother led the horse to the stable while dad carried the sled and put it away. They would not need it for some time anyway, grandma could stay until the storm subsided for real and it could take months yet.

Grandma sat on a stool inside the door and watched while the younger generation was working, she herself was too old, her work was already finished and was inside a small leather pouch that she had brought with her from home. She had tried to keep up hope by knitting socks and sweaters for the entire family and cooked candies and it had become quite much.

Grandma had one single animal, a goat, and they had brought with them on the sled and it would have a place together with the two goats that already was sleeping in a small fenced-in storage.

Eventually it was time for the moment of truth, the three walked off towards the house and came in by pressing the right place at the door. It blew a lot and a lot of snow had blown in before the three adults had time to shut the door. Once inside, they rushed into the house to see how it looked. And they were actually surprised by what they saw. The children had even managed to cut a Christmas tree.

Right now, all three children were sleeping peacefully, in the same bed. They could see their faces in the glow of the fire, which was about to go out.

Mum walked over to the fireplace and put on more sticks, soon it burned a lovely, big and warm fire there again, at the same time dad went out to the storeage to pick in all food they needed for Christmas. He wanted this to be the best Christmas ever, it was what his three kids deserved. After all, they had all three experienced something terrible these weeks.

When dad came in, grandmother had embarked her handmade works in small and large packages and put them under the Christmas tree, mum had started to bake bread. The children sill slept, and it was actually a few hours left of the night yet so the adults let them sleep. In fact, they should go to bed as well, but they were so relieved and proud at the fact that all the children had actually survived over a month on their own.

Dad took out a stool and sat down next to the bed where they slept, he lit a candle, which he placed on the table next to the sleeping children so he could see them better. Then he took out his knife and began to carve, they could not just get soft package for Christmas after this.


	11. Chapter 11

**The final chapter**

The first one to move in the bed was Belarus. Dad hurried to hide what he worked on in a leather bag so that she could not see what he did and understand the truth about Santa Claus. Both his younger children were too young for that kind of truth he felt. If Ukraine knew about it he didn't know but if she did, it was only natural, she was both old enough and very smart.

Additionally, there was only one thing the father would really want to do right now, he wanted to talk to at least one of his kids, who he had for a very long time now, thought to be dead. And since Bela was about to wake up he lifted her up from the bed, so the others could sleep a little more if they wanted to, even if it was time to get up.

Bela's movement was enough to make the other wake up anyway, and if it hadn't, there was a lot of noises that shouldn't be there. Ukraine sat up and looked out over the room and the people in it as if she had never seen them before. Russia, who had been sleeping closest to the wall that night tried to climb over her to get out of bed so dad decided to lift him up from the bed as well as Belarus, none of them weighed a lot so it was no problem.

When dad was sitting there with his two youngest in his arms, mum walked over to the bed, sat down and put her arms around Ukraine.

"No dear, you're not dreaming, we're home," she said calmly and barely audible, but it was all that was needed to make Ukraine's stress go away. Ukraine could no longer hold back the tears she hadn't wanted Russia and Bela to see for a so long time, she just threw herself into her mother's arms, and let them come, today, she would not have to be the good and clever big sister to survive, all of that was over now.

Ukraine were still crying when her father suggested that she and her siblings should sit down at the table to have breakfast but at least most of it had stopped. The realization that she was no longer alone in the world had begun to sink in, and when she tasted the soft and warm bread that her mother had baked while she slept, everything felt so good that Ukraine couldn't cry more.

Instead, she came to think of her first, failed attempt to make soup. She had found everything that had a name in that soup when it was finished; hay, cat shit, a fish skeleton. Ukraine remembered how disappointed and scared she had been at that night. At the same time, she had gotten a lot better at cooking during these months. She had even begun to teach Russia a little bit, even though he was so small. Somewhere she had thought that her parents thought she was too small to be able to cook as well and because of that she and also Russia and Belarus could have died.

Now Ukraine sat quietly and watched as her mother wiped away the jam from Bela's face and everything was as if the past months had never existed.

When they had eaten breakfast, their grandmother had taken Belarus in her arms and sat down in a chair, their father had taken Russia and settled in another. Mum had taken Ukraine in her hand and asked her for help to fetch some firewood.

They then went into the other room, where Ukraine had fixed a small wood storage, but it was quite another thing her mother wanted to ask her about. Her mother pointed out two writing books that lay in a corner along with a bunch of herbs and bowls. Ukraine recognized the sides that were pitched in her own and her mother's diaries, and the herbs she had used when Russia was ill.

After a conversation with her mother, Ukraine had understood that the disease that Russia and Bela had got, probably was just a regular but very virulent flu, and that was all what Ukraine's mum really wanted to know. She had immediately recognized her diary, and the event that was described on the page and then, she had read something alarmingly similar in her daughter's diary. She had gotten very worried. And to put it behind her, she had to know that the disease, if it was that disease, was now gone from their house.

Now it was fortunately not this disease, the disease process that Ukraine had described to her was completely different, and she also explained that to Ukraine, to calm her down when they picked the firewood. But there was one thing that Ukraine wanted to know.

"Mum?"

"Hm?"

"Are you mad at me?" Mum paused and looked at her daughter.

"Why do you think that little one?"

"Because I read your diary!" Mum looked over at the books that were still open in the corner. If Ukraine had not found her diary neither she nor her brother and sister had survived, Ukraine's mother was quite convinced about that. She had browsed through Ukraine's diary and found all her notes on how to cook, how to make medicine for colds and everything else. She explained this to Ukraine while they picked the wood they needed, more explanations or apologies wasn't needed.

For the first time in very many years, she thought of her siblings who hadn't made it througt that disease, which had been a mild form of the plague actually, but she didnt't feel that she need tell Ukraine about that right now, then she would just have to tell her about the plague as well and Ukraine had seen to much for her age allready she thought. But in a way, she was quite grateful about everything. In a way, her sibling's death had actually saved her childrens' life.

-o-o-o-

**A/N - Ok, I know, I couldn't leave them alone over Christmas, I even felt I had to make one more chapter.**


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